‘They were kind of insulting him.’ Ben Gregg capitalizes on USF defensive coverage, scores 23 points in Gonzaga’s rout

SAN FRANCISCO – Ben Gregg’s put up more than 560 shots in 136 career games at Gonzaga. That number probably moves into the hundreds of thousands when accounting for the practice shots Gregg’s taken in an empty gym, building muscle memory and creating good habits with nobody defending or watching on.

Gregg had plenty of eyes on him Saturday night – 6,374 in attendance at the Chase Center and thousands more following along through a national ESPN broadcast – but the senior forward didn’t command a great deal of defensive attention, with San Francisco deploying a game plan designed to limit Gonzaga’s bigs, giving Gregg and fellow 4 Michael Ajayi plenty of space to operate from the perimeter.

The result? Gregg approached a career-high in the scoring column, posting a team-high 23 points for the Zags in a 95-75 rout of the Dons at the Chase Center that clinched a No. 2 seed and double bye at the upcoming West Coast Conference Tournament.

“It’s like you’re in the gym by yourself when no one’s guarding you, let it come to you,” Gregg said. “I was expecting it too with the way I’ve been shooting it this last stretch and all season, so just kept shooting. I’ve got guys like (Ryan Nembhard) giving me confidence the whole game, coaching staff telling me to keep shooting, they’re going to go in. So that was big time and it was nice to see a couple go in, for sure.”

Gregg’s 23 points were one shy of his career high, set twice earlier this season (Davidson, Portland), and the fifth-year senior broke out of a 3-point shooting slump at an ideal time, with meaningful postseason games on the horizon for the forward and his teammates.

Gregg, who’d missed 10 consecutive 3-point looks over a nine-game span dating back to his 24-point outing against Portland on Jan. 25, watched his first three looks from behind the arc rim out on Saturday, including two within the first 92 seconds.

The Dons were more than happy to let Gregg heave. The senior’s cold stretch dropped his 3-point percentage to 27%, so USF diverted more of its defensive attention to Gonzaga’s post duo of Graham Ike and Braden Huff, who had 30 points in the last meeting and accounted for a majority of the Zags’ 52 paint points.

“Well they were kind of insulting him,” Gonzaga coach Mark Few said. “They chose not to guard him, which we thought they might do. They weren’t going to guard our 4s and Ben handled it great. He handled it great. Sometimes that’s hard, the hardest shot to shoot is when you’re wide, wide open. And he missed his first couple, which I think shows even more character and some real mental toughness. Then he hung with it and was able to find his floaters and get going a little bit and then he ended up banging a couple 3s after that.

“But yeah, great game out of Ben tonight.”

Gregg, who’d reached double figures just once since the Portland game, busted out of his offensive slump on Saturday, using an array of free throws, midrange shots and floaters to get his rhythm back in the first half.

Then came the 3s. Gregg made his first with 3 minutes, 38 seconds left in the opening frame, then knocked in two more to finish 8 of 14 from the field, 3 of 6 from the 3-point line and 4 of 4 from the free -throw line. Gregg also had two blocked shots, stuffing 7-footer Saba Gigiberia in the first half and pinning a layup off the glass in the second.

The Dons have thrown similar looks at the Zags before, most recently in the semifinals of the 2024 WCC Tournament. Gregg had four 3-pointers and 17 points in that game and had four more 3s for 12 points in a 2023 conference tournament semifinal matchup with USF.

“I think he’s probably a career 37-38% shooter and he’s missed some tough ones this year, but I think getting him going is huge” Nembhard said. “I think either of our 4s, when they play like that we’re a different team. It’s good for him to see some go through. We kind of talked about it. We knew they were going to give him that coverage tonight and for him to see some go through, it’s only going to help his confidence and help this team.”